Patent GB-929499-A (GB)
Title: Apparatus for stacking sheet articles
IPC: B65H29/46
Filed: 1960-04-26
Abstract: 929,499. Delivering sheets. INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CO. OF NATIONAL DISTILLERS & CHEMICAL CORPORATION S.A. April 26, 1960 [May 20, 1959], No. 14649/60. Class 100 (1). A stacking apparatus for articles of flexible sheet material, e.g. polyethylene garment bags, which are successively delivered to the stacking apparatus in a flat condition and suspended in a substantially vertical plane, comprises stack forming means including a plurality of pins mounted facing the articles at the point of delivery and laterally adjacent thereto, a stacking head movable towards the pins so as to engage the articles and impale them on the pins, and means for operating the stacking head in time with the delivery of the articles. Garment bags 13 are cut from a tubular web 15, Fig. 2, by knives 16, the portion of the web below the knives being guided and held in a vertical position by streams of air 20 directed downwards on each side thereof. As each bag is severed from the web it is held by a horizontally reciprocating suction bar 25 which carries successive bags alternately to the left and to the right, as seen in Figs, 1, 2, where they are impaled on pin racks 28, 27, respectively. The bar 25 is hollow and divided by a vertical partition into two chambers 38, 39, Fig. 4, the side walls of the chambers being perforated at 46, 47, respectively. The chambers are connected by pipes 42, 43 with a manifold 40 which communicates with a source of suction through a pipe 63. The parts 25, 42, 43, 40 are fixed to a plate 77 which is detachably secured to a block 73 slidable on horizontal bars 30. The block 73 has a plate 106 secured thereto in which a vertical slot 105 is formed. A pin 102 secured to an endless chain 31 carries a roller 104 which is slidably engaged in the slot 105. The chain 31 is carried by sprockets 95, 97 of which the former is driven in synchronism with the bag-making machine, the connection 104, 105 causing the block 73 and the parts secured thereto to reciprocate horizontally as the chain is thus driven. A horizontally slidable valveplate 65 is mounted in the manifold 40 and protrudes from each end thereof for engagement by stops 66, 67 at each end of the path of travel of the block 73. The stops 66, 67 move the valve plate between two positions in one of which the chamber 38 is connected to the source of suction and in the other of which the chamber 39 is so connected. Comb-like members 34, 34<SP>1</SP> are pivoted to the upper face of the bar 25 at the side edges thereof and are movable between the vertical and horizontal positions shown in Fig. 1 by means of cranks 85, 86 which are spring- biased into contact with a stationary cam-plate 88. As the bar 25 is moved to the right, Figs. 1 and 2, the chamber 39 is connected to the source of suction so that a bag 13 just severed from the web 15 is held against the holes 47; as the bar approaches the pins 22 of the pin rack 27 the member 34<SP>1</SP> is raised to the vertical position and helps to press the top end of the bag on to the pins 22. The suction is then cut off from the chamber 39 and the bar 25 moves to the left, the chamber 38 now communicating with the source of suction and the member 34<SP>1</SP> being lowered. The next bag to have been cut from the web 15 is held against the holes 46 and subsequently engaged, with the aid of the member 34, on the pin rack 28. The racks 27, 28 are mounted on two pairs of endless chains each of which carries two such racks, one in a bag-receiving position and one in an unloading position. The endless chains carrying the pin racks receive their drives from the shafts of the sprockets 95, 97, being connected thereto through one-revolution clutches 118 actuated by solenoids 119. A counting mechanism operated by the drive for the block 73 actuates the solenoids 119 so as to move the pin racks to the unloading position when a predetermined number of bags has been placed on each rack. A switch 150, Fig. 5, responsive to air pressure, is mounted within the manifold 40 and operates means for stopping the machine and sounding an alarm should a bag not be fed to the bar 25 at the correct time.